Kurt's Kokoda quest

Newcastle based Paralympian Kurt Fearnley is no stranger to endurance and exhaustion, having won marathons in his wheelchair. But he admits that pushing his body to the limit is part of the appeal in "crawling" the Kokoda Track next month.

Kurt is a gold medallist and world champion wheelchair racer, and specialises in endurance events. In fact, he'll be competing in two marathons before leaving for Kokoda in November.

He'll be doing the trek without his wheelchair, though jokes that he dreams of arriving and finding a cement path to follow. Instead, he'll be "crawling" or using his hands and incredible upper body strength to propel himself, and he's had special protective gear made.

For his legs, he had wetsuit material made into a custom shape, and then had it reinforced with rubber to protect his legs from cuts, blisters and bruises. His arms will also be protected.

"My arms and my wrists and my elbows are my livelihood I guess, so to protect them I've got a mix between foam, metal and rubber again" he says.

"I've done everything I can to limit the damage that's going to occur."

Kurt's been training around Newcastle, including the Glenrock State Conservation Area where he's been inspired by views over the beach and down the coast to Redhead and Dudley.

"The initial inspiration to start here was just to get down to the beach and go for a swim… pretty big carrot to follow I think" he jokes.

But his training hasn't all been cool swims along the quiet stretch of beach. He's been crawling up and down steep rocky steps and through the sand, which he says is particularly hard on the body.

He says his method of crawling is easier downhill, because he can use the momentum that builds.

"The steeper the better for me, then I only have to pivot my body to where it wants to go."

"It's more or less like you're on a pommel" he says, as he moves faster than someone walking downhill would.

"You're just letting your body go downhill and your hands are just guiding you all the way down so it takes limited energy."

On the question of why he'd attempt such a gruelling task, Kurt says he wanted to raise funds and awareness for men's health charity Movember, but also learn more about Australians at Kokoda.

"My job's to represent Australia, and recently I was asked what it is to be Australian and I sat there dumbfounded for a minute.

"Hopefully this will give me more of an understanding of the history, and why we are who we are."

"Every single person's Kokoda trail is different, it just depends on how you take it, how you tackle it.

"Whether you do it in 5 days or 12 days like we are, whether you carry your packs or have a dozen porters."

"It all seems so unique and I think the only thing that will be different about our trip is that I'll be crawling."